Learn How To Speak German Today

If you want to learn how to speak German the best way to really learn the language is to live in Germany, take German language lessons and read and listen to as much German as you can. This is the conclusion that I have come to during the course of my own personal experiences of learning German.

I always enjoyed languages and decided that I wanted to learn to speak German. Most people chose French but I wanted to be different. I started learning when I was 14 years old. German language classes at school are never that fun. At the time it seemed like hard work to learn completely new words and a completely new way of constructing sentences. When I was learning how to converse in my own native language, English, we were not taught the rules or grammatical terms. All these new terms had to be learned in order to understand how languages work. After doing my exams at school, I decided that I wanted to study German language at degree level. I knew that the best way to really learn how to speak German was to visit the country.

Image: Will Palmer

I arranged through a specialist agency to live and work as an au pair (like a live in nanny). I lived with a German family who had 3 children. I had no choice but to speak German as the children were young and spoke no English. I was paid a nominal sum and the family paid for me to take German lessons. I went to a foreign language school everyday for 4 hours where I learned the correct grammatical terms and extended my German vocabulary. I returned home to the family and put into practice what I had gained from the course.

I met other people who arrived in Germany without any knowledge of the language. One girl that I got to know really well was from Bolivia and after 3 months she was completely fluent. This was only possible because she was living and breathing the language all day everyday.

When I returned home to England I embarked on my degree course in German language and found that I was one of only 3 students in my class who could speak fluently. I would be first to admit that my grammar wasn’t the best (I was always a little bit lazy with school work) but at least I could hold a fluent conversation without sounding stilted or embarrassed.

I am happy to say that I eventually completed my degree and went on to get a job using my German language skills.

Take an online course

I suggest that you find out about good online courses that you can start with in the comfort of your own home. One online course called Rocket German is very popular and very suitable for people at beginners level.

Start reading German magazines and newspapers

Choose short articles to start with. Take your time to read and highlight all the new words in the piece. This is a good way to increase your vocabulary. Invest in a good dictionary to help you on your way.

Visit Germany

Find out the best way that you can visit the country. Take a vacation, find out about exchange programmes or even go to Germany as an au pair like I did. Completely emerge yourself in the language and culture and you will be fluent in no time.

So, what are you waiting for? If you want to learn German, start learning today. Get the online course Rocket German, get your dictionary and get yourself over to Germany as soon as you can. Viel Gluck!